Second Chance
by KimikoRinSohmaHyuuga
Summary: When Kakashi goes on a long mission, Tamiko waits for him to return. However, she must first face her own emotions and the unexpected events of a certain mission of her own.


Another fic about my oc and Kakashi. It's under the pretext that Kakashi went on a long mission, and Tamiko is waiting for him to return. This is before he knows about her feelings for him. On that note, please rate and review! Enjoy!

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**Second Chance**

I rolled my eyes inwardly as the Hokage punched the ground, sending chunks of earth rippling into the enemy lines. Technically, they weren't really lines. There were only ten enemy shinobi to be dispatched. It wasn't a problem for a sannin and her ANBU bodyguard. Still, the Hokage wasn't making it easy for me. We were supposed to be secretive. That was more my style. Drawing a single senbon, I threw it silently at an enemy. He gasped, but the sound was choked off, blocked by the senbon settled in his neck. I smiled coldly behind my mask. An almost silent elimination. Maybe the next one would be completely silent. There was one enemy left. He began to run away, trying to escape from us. He was fast, but I was faster. Moving silently like the silver needle I had just thrown, I launched myself at the escaping shinobi. Kicking my target in the back, I knocked the wind out of him. Before he could react, I crushed his windpipe. There. A silent elimination. Another cold smile. I turned back to the Hokage, to find her raising her eyebrows at me.

"What?" I asked, slipping back to stand next to her.

"Nothing," Lady Tsunade said, shaking her head, "You just remind me of Kakashi sometimes. He would have done the same thing." My mouth twisted bitterly behind my mask. Why did people always have to mention him? I tried to hold back the confused emotions that surfaced.

"What would you have done?" I asked, glad that my face was hidden behind the bird-shaped ANBU mask.

"The same thing. But differently," Shaking her head, the Hokage walked away, picking her way through the uneven ground and enemy corpses. I followed her, and we continued toward our earlier destination. But my mind was far from the mission. As I ran from treetop to treetop, I contemplated the emotions that had risen in me when Tsunade had mentioned him. I needed to sort through them now so that I wouldn't be distracted later. The first thing that came to mind was loss. Two years and a half years ago, I had been in the hospital with injuries from Gaara Sabaku's Sand Coffin jutsu. My mouth twisted as I remembered that Kakashi had been the one to find me. He hadn't left the hospital once while I had been critical. Until he had been assigned to a mission. A dangerous mission, apparently. I remembered asking how long he would be gone. _I'm not sure. Not too long, I hope. _That had been his answer. Now, almost three years later, Hatake Kakashi was still gone. Which led me to the second thing that came up when I thought of him. Anger. No matter how much I reasoned with myself, thought up excuses for him, the anger still surfaced. I resented him for not returning. For staying away and not stopping the rumors that spread through the village like poison. The rumors that he was dead. That he was KIA. Killed in action. Like my brother. Part of me knew that there was nothing he could do. A mission was a mission. But what if the rumors were true? What if I would never see him again? That made me think of the third emotion I was experiencing. Regret. If he was never coming back, Kakashi would never know how I felt about him. He would never know how much I needed him. I would never be able to tell him any of these things. And that was what I was afraid of.

"ANBU," the Hokage said, breaking into my thoughts. I jumped down and landed silently in the street.

"I want you to consider strategies for this mission," she said, walking slower now.

"That would be easier if I knew where we were going and why," I replied coolly.

"We're going to meet an informant who has new intelligence on the Akatsuki," Tsunade explained, "Your job is to watch our backs while I receive the information." I nodded, thinking. Judging by the direction we were traveling in, the meeting point was on the outskirts of this village. The enemies we had eliminated had probably been sent to keep us from our destination. But sent by whom? If the informant was a double agent, not only would we get false information, he or she could have sent the shinobi to eliminate us.

"How trustworthy is this informant?" I asked the Hokage.

"Oh, we can trust him," she replied, "Without a doubt." A small smile played around her lips. For some reason, I believed her. Then where had the enemies come from? I put the question out of my mind and concentrated on strategy. Since the Hokage thought the informant's allegiances were set in stone, we just had to watch out for more enemy shinobi. I related this to Tsunade, and she nodded tersely.

"We're almost there," she said, and sped up. I kept pace, and soon we were standing in a small clearing. I looked around quickly, but there was no sign of anyone but us. Except. Something was shifting at the opposite end of the clearing. I tensed, ready to catch a shuriken or kunai if one was thrown at me or the Hokage. A figure emerged from the tree line. Clothed in a black cowl, the informant seemed to glide forward. I couldn't see anything behind the hood, and that seemed to unnerve Tsunade as much as it did me.

"The fire blazes through the night," Tsunade addressed the figure, who was ten paces away. That was the code phrase that the Hokage used before receiving information. I tensed for the reply, waiting to see if this person was as trustworthy as Tsunade said.

"And in the morning it is replaced with the sun," the figure replied without pause. I relaxed. Almost. The voice was familiar. Where had I heard it? A mission? The village? I couldn't be sure. The informant crossed the remaining paces to stand in front of the Hokage. I jumped backward into the lower branches of a nearby tree so they wouldn't think I was eavesdropping. Seeming more relaxed, the informant pushed back his hood. I clutched the tree branch for support. A familiar shock of silver hair had been revealed, followed by a face I knew very well. What I could see of it, that is. He was wearing a mask, as always, but his headband was missing. Instead, a strip of black cloth wound around his head, slipping low over his left eye. Kakashi. He was here, in front of me. The rumors weren't true. Kakashi still lived. And he seemed unharmed, for the most part. His face was gaunt, and his cheekbones stood out sharper against the mask. I couldn't guess when he had last slept. Or eaten. But Kakashi was alive. That was the important thing. The conversation below seemed to be nearing its close. I jumped back down to stand beside the Hokage.

"Thank you Kakashi," Tsunade was saying, "This is valuable information." Kakashi nodded, and then asked:

"When should I return to Konoha?" I bit my lip under my mask. So he wasn't coming back with us. Tsunade paused, deliberating.

"Soon, I think. We would be pushing our luck to have you stay much longer," she replied. Kakashi nodded to Tsunade and then to me. I nodded back, drinking in my last glimpse of him. Drawing the hood over his face, Kakashi turned and disappeared into the trees.

"Let's go," the Hokage said, turning and heading in the opposite direction from Kakashi. I followed her silently, trying to collect myself. _Soon,_ Tsunade had said. It shouldn't be too long before I saw him again. I would wait for that day to come. Because it would come. I could feel it. I had been given a second chance.


End file.
